


nowhere I would rather be

by missjmelville



Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Buddie Advent (9-1-1), Christmas Fluff, First Kiss, Getting Together, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-08
Updated: 2020-12-08
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:06:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27952808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/missjmelville/pseuds/missjmelville
Summary: “Didn’t quite catch that bud,” Eddie keeps his eyes on Buck’s face. It’s become harder and harder to keep his eyes from wandering recently, to keep the burgeoning feelings at bay, squeeze them back inside the box where they belong, hidden and unacknowledged until the day he dies. So he suppresses things, sue him.
Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV)
Comments: 19
Kudos: 276
Collections: 25 (More) Days Of Buddie





	nowhere I would rather be

**Author's Note:**

> Day 8 of the Buddie Discord Advent for 2020, I chose the prompt "Good Tidings to you (and go fuck yourself)" Thank you to my lovely beta's and especially [matan4il](https://archiveofourown.org/users/matan4il/pseuds/matan4il) and [an-alternate-world](https://archiveofourown.org/users/an_alternate_world/pseuds/an_alternate_world) who listened to my frantic rambling when I left this to the last minute.

The ding of the elevator doors opening on Buck’s floor is the first welcoming sound Eddie has heard all day after a twelve hour shift with the B-Team, as they are affectionately known, Eddie is keen to catch up with Buck for a night of beers and pizza. The bottles of the six pack he holds in one hand clank together as he steps out of the elevator. He shifts his weight as his duffle bag threatens to slide off his shoulder, just a handful more steps until he’s at Buck’s door.

“Good tidings to you and go fuck yourself!” The yell easily reaches Eddie where he stands staring down the hallway, a group of people stand in front of a door that has just been slammed in their faces, the silence that follows is almost deafening. Then with a few frantic mutterings, the people rush down the hallway straight for Eddie. He is bumped around by the group of teenagers looking ruffled and red-cheeked, whether in anger or sadness, maybe even humiliation, Eddie is unsure. But they don’t spare him more than a glance as they rush past and into the now vacant elevator behind Eddie.

The ding of the now-closed doors snap Eddie out of his bemused staring as he turns back to look down the hallway. He’s fairly sure he knows whose voice that was yelling and whose door it was that slammed shut. He walks down the hallway and stops at the familiar door. He debates pulling out his key and unlocking it himself but his hands are full with beer and his duffle bag so he opts to knock instead.

He can hear footsteps getting closer and a voice mumbling as the lock turns and the door opens, Buck stands there, scowl on his face as he takes a deep breath as if he is preparing to yell again, and promptly deflates as he sees Eddie.

“Oh! Hey man, come on in,” he shuffles out of the way and snags the beers from Eddie’s hand as he walks past. Eddie dumps his duffle bag to the side and watches as Buck takes the beers to the fridge, pulling out two cold ones from the remainder of a six pack left from their dinner a couple nights previously.

“So, are we not gonna talk about it?” Eddie asks as he takes the proffered beer, his fingers brushing Buck’s as they settle into their routine, Eddies perches on a barstool at the island and Buck slouches on the other side, elbows resting on the bench.

“Talk about what?” Buck’s face is the picture of innocence, but Eddie knows better, knows Buck better.

“The yelling in the hallway? Come on man, I know you love Christmas so what gives? Yelling at teenage carollers? That’s not like you at all.” Eddie takes a sip of his beer, watching Buck with shrewd eyes. Buck is picking at the label of his beer, yet to take a drink himself. That, more than anything else, tells Eddie that something’s up.

Buck mumbles something under his breath, eyes down to avoid Eddie’s gaze and shoulders hunching, if possible, even more like he’s trying to make himself appear smaller. A difficult feat given his size and that’s a line of thought Eddie files away for later, ignoring how his eyes are drawn to the slope of Buck’s shoulders and the muscles of his arms.

“Didn’t quite catch that bud,” Eddie keeps his eyes on Buck’s face. It’s become harder and harder to keep his eyes from wandering recently, to keep the burgeoning feelings at bay, squeeze them back inside the box where they belong, hidden and unacknowledged until the day he dies. So he suppresses things, sue him.

“I said, they weren’t carollers, they were scammers,” Buck finally looks up from where he has mangled the label of his beer bottle, “They’ve been going around the building scamming people out of their money, saying it’s for charity but it’s not!” Buck’s eyes blaze with anger, not at Eddie but at the people supposedly scamming the vulnerable during the holiday season.

“How do you know?” Eddie’s voice is soft, not accusing, he's trying to make it as non-threatening as possible because he doesn’t doubt Buck, he just wants to know how he came to the conclusion he did.

“Because,” Buck pauses to finally drink his beer, swallowing half the bottle in a few quick pulls, like a man dying of thirst, “Because they were saying it was for this charity, for kids with cerebral palsy, but I know all the charities Eddie, even the bad ones, and when Janice said she’d given them $200 bucks I looked it up and they don’t exist!” The fire is back in his eyes, passion and anger and righteous indignation that anyone would dare fake a charity let alone one so personal to the both of them.

Eddie can’t help the dopey smile that takes over his face at that thought. He tries to cover it with his bottle as he drinks his beer but Buck’s eyes squint like he knows what Eddie’s doing.

“Don’t look at me like that,” Buck huffs, crossing his arms over his chest, beer bottle forgotten on the bench.

“Like what?” Eddie really needs to stop smiling, any second now, but his cheeks hurt and he’s not sure why but that box he stuffed everything into not a moment ago is wide open now and he can’t for the life of him close it back up.

“Like, well, like that,” he waves his hand in Eddie’s direction as if encompassing his entire being.

“That clears up everything,” Eddie responds dryly but he’s still smiling, and standing now, walking around the island to where Buck is standing. For every step forward Eddie takes, Buck takes one back until there is nowhere else to go and his back is pressed up against the cabinets behind him, and Eddie doesn’t stop until they’re toe to toe, nose to nose.

“Uhhh…” Buck hesitates, eyes wide and flitting frantically over Eddie’s face, “Eddie, man, come on,” his hands hover between them, not touching but palms spread wide as if to stop Eddie from getting any close, as if he could get any closer.

“You know every charity for kids with cerebral palsy,” he states, eyes locked with Buck’s, he reaches out one hand to rest on Buck’s shoulder. He doesn’t flinch or push away, his wide eyes reflect the bright kitchen lights, he looks beautiful.

“Yeah,” Buck replies but it comes out more like a whisper, his mouth parting slowly as if in shock or realisation. One of his hands presses into Eddie’s chest but not to push him away, more to just feel that he’s here, that this is happening.

“You’re incredible,” Eddie’s own words a whisper against Buck’s lips as he moves forward just the last tiny distance until their lips brush, until they’re kissing, and Buck is melting against him, hand grasping at his chest, grabbing a handful of Eddie’s shirt and Eddie’s hand sliding around to cup the back of Buck’s head and hold him in place.

They pull back slowly at the same time and Eddie can’t remove the smile from his face if his life depended on it. All the worries, all the fears, all the reasons he told himself he could never have this and had to hide his feelings from everyone including himself just seem to melt away in the face of Buck and his huge heart.

They’re left staring at each other, faces flushed and sharing the warm air between them. They’re tangled together in every way possible, one of Eddie’s legs wedged between both of Buck’s, his foot hooked around Buck’s ankle. One hand still cupping the back of Buck’s head, the other under his shirt, pressed firmly against Buck’s ribcage, his thumb rubbing absently along the warm skin.

Buck’s grip is tight in the front of Eddie’s shirt, fingers white with the force of it, and his other hand, more tellingly, is tucked half under Eddie’s waistband, fingers tantalisingly close to his ass. Every breath from Buck flows to Eddie and every breath from Eddie flows right back to Buck as they breathe in sync, neither one moving to untangle themselves from the other.

Eddie smiles again, isn’t sure he ever even stopped smiling and leans forward again to nip at Buck’s bottom lip, easing the sting with a swipe of his tongue, relishing in the soft gasp that the action elicits.

“Good tidings to you,” Eddie whispers between them, echoing Buck’s earlier words back to him. It takes a moment before the confusion clears and Buck finishes the sentence.

“And go fuck yourself,” his brow furrows as he watches the grin on Eddie’s face grow wider if that’s even possible.

“I was thinking you could,” Eddie amends, biting his own lip as he looks up at Buck from below hooded eyes.

“Oh hell yeah,” Buck replies as he pulls Eddie back in for another bruising kiss, his own smile making it harder than it needs to be, but he makes up for it with enthusiasm. It is a long time before either of them get back to their beers and longer still until they order pizza and eat it together curled up in Buck’s bed. He doesn’t even complain about the crumbs when Eddie pushes the pizza box aside to make a go at round three.


End file.
